The $4 million Bugatti Tourbillon Is Just A Fancy Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray On Steroids
The Bugatti Tourbillon hypercar has been revealed with a hybrid powertrain that puts 1,775 hp to the pavement.
Bugatti says the $4 million Chiron successor will accelerate to 60 mph in 2.0 seconds and reach a restricted top speed of 277 mph.
It does this through the use of an 8.3-liter V16 engine, three electric motors and a 25 kWh battery pack mounted between the passengers.
The mid-mounted V16 is a naturally-aspirated successor to the quad-turbocharged W12 that was featured in the Bugatti Chiron and Veyron. You can expect Bugatti to attempt to beat the latter’s 304 mph top speed with an unrestricted Tourbillon someday.
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The meter-long engine is rated at 986 hp on its own and has a redline of 9,000 rpm. It’s the first V16 offered in a production car since the very rare Cizeta-Moroder V16T of the 1990s. The V16T was a bit of hack job that connected two V8 engines, while the Tourbillon’s was specially engineered for it by Cosworth.
One electric motor helps it drive the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission while each front wheel gets its own electric motor. It’s also a plug-in hybrid that can drive about 30 miles in fully electric mode. This all sounds similar to a car we recently test drove, just multiplied.
The 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray has a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8 that drives the rear wheels and an electric motor for the front wheels that draws its power from a battery pack installed between the passengers. The total output is just 655 hp, but it can sprint to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and drive a couple of miles in all-electric mode up to 45 mph. Its actual top speed is 183 mph and its starting price is $106,595. That sounds like a pretty good deal compared to the Tourbillon, which won’t even be on sale until sometime in 2026. The Bugatti, of course, has qualities beyond the power and speed that help justify its sky-high price.
The vehicle is largely constructed from carbon fiber composites and has active aerodynamics that can transform it from a high-downforce corner carver to a streamlined top speed machine.
And while its styling doesn’t differ too much from the Chyron’s it has a very unique feature in the cabin, which is trimmed in fine leather, aluminum and crystal.
The steering wheel surrounds a fixed analog instrument cluster within its rim that was designed after the movement of high-end watches, hence the Tourbillon name. The center console has a digital infotainment system with Apple CarPlay smartphone integration, but it stays hidden away until summoned.
One thing that isn’t hidden is the single wiper, which parks vertically in the center of the windshield. Formula One drivers used to their car’s “halo” safety bars will feel right at home.
Bugatti is planning to build just 250 Tourbillons, but even if you sign an F1 contract or win the lottery today, good luck getting one new. Previous Bugatti owners will be getting first dibs.
As for the Corvette, the E-Ray isn’t the end-all of that model. Chevrolet on July 25 will reveal the 2025 Corvette ZR1, which it describes as “unthinkable” and is rumored to have anywhere from 800 hp to 1,000 hp.
It’s not yet known if it will be a hybrid like the E-Ray or powered only by an internal combustion engine, but one thing’s pretty certain: It won’t cost $4 million.